AN: Frank is pretty much a gonner. Yes we all noticed it...
Chapter 3: The Only Easy Day was Yesterday
This is the third run through the kill house with Teal'c and one thing is for sure. He's been set up. The Jaffa is totally comfortable with Earth weapons which means it was a test. They wanted to see just how good of a trainer he was. Well, let's see what happens when his little surprise rears its ugly head. One of the things Seals train for is Mr. Murphy showing up. You can plan for every possible scenario and yet something can and will go wrong. Probably at the worst possible time. To simulate this, they have a member of their team load the magazines of their weapons short. Simulating a weapon jamming. The idea is to not hesitate and to keep an aggressive posture.
They reach the door of the kill house and Frank holds up three fingers. Teal'c nods and he silently counts down, 3, 2, 1 and they breach the door. Frank goes left, Teal'c goes right. They both have two targets and eliminate them with ease. Moving to the hallway, they each clear a room wit no targets. They head into the next room and three targets pop up. Teal'c fires his P90 at one and attempts to shoot the next one but there is a silent click. A bean bag hits the big man in the chest.
Frank meanwhile hits his target but as he swings to the last target his gun runs dry. Without a second thought he drops to one knee while drawing his side-arm and drills the final target. "Well, that was fun." Frank smiles and replaces his side arm. "Come on Teal'c, let's go get ready for your hand to hand training."
Teal'c raises an eyebrow and looks back at the targets. "Indeed." The big man says and follows Frank out. "Chief Hopkins, you have shown me many interesting things today. For instance, the unusual quietness of your weapons."
Frank nods. "They are called suppressors. In the Teams, getting in and out as quiet as possible is the goal. The suppressors give us that advantage. The downside is you lose a little impact and range but if you are going in and can get closer because you are quiet, it's an equal trade off.
Teal'c nods. "A sound strategy to not alert your enemy of your presence. This would present an advantage over your prey."
Frank smiles. "That it does." Looking up he notices the crowd and before he can figure out what's going on, Teal'c speaks again.
"I am confused with that last run. I am positive the weapons were not properly loaded. As it was Captain Schultz who loaded them, I find this highly unlikely, she is known for her competency and accuracy in her work."
Frank nods. "You are correct. To simulate a gun jamming in battle, we have someone load the mags short. I asked Captain Schultz to load them for us to be fair."
Teal'c pauses. "How then did you know to use your other weapon so quickly?"
"Practice." Frank smiles. "By doing this you train yourself not to hesitate and to use the next resource at your disposal." Reaching up to his chest, he grabs one of his throwing knives and hurls it at a target of a Jaffa. The knife slams home into the left eye of the target. "No hesitation means your chances of winning the fight are pretty good."
Teal'c retrieves the knife and hands it to him. "You are a cunning warrior Hopkins. We shall see if I can expand your lethal skills without weapons." He turns and leaves.
Janet and Siler had taken up position on either side of Lynn having figured out if they wanted the scoop on the hulking squid she was the most likely target as she seemed to be the only person he'd spoken more than five words in a row to.
"Holy crap Rambo." Janet said, equally shocked and impressed. Lynn pressed her lips together but a giggle escaped anyway.
"Rambo? He's more like the Terminator." Siler told them.
"It's not a Jaffa." Janet said in a cheesy Austrian accent.
"Come with me if you want a squid." Siler quipped in the same accent.
Lynn lost it. She laughed at the hilarity and didn't care that everyone was looking at her. She wiped a tear of mirth from her cheek. "You guys are terrible." She told them.
Janet grinned. "You think this is bad, you should see how we pick on Colonel O'Neill.
Lynn looked at them both incredulously and Siler nodded. Jack was a good commander. You could go to him with most of your problems. His advice was sometimes unconventional but often helpful.
"Looks like the party is moving inside." Janet told them and nudged Lynn forward.
Frank replaces his knife and sees Teal'c talking to Colonel O'Neill. Teal'c turns back and looks at Frank then returns his attention to O'Neill. The colonel pats his shoulder and Teal'c leaves. O'Neill then waves Frank forward.
Frank approaches the other man. "Yes sir?"
"Teal'c was impressed. That's saying a lot. The training gig is yours. You definitely are the man for the job. Congratulations kid." And pats Frank's shoulder.
"Thanks, I won't let you down… seems like I have plenty of time seeing as I haven't been assigned to a team yet."
Jack raises a finger. "Yes, about that, you have a team now. SG-13. They are a première covert ops team under Colonel Dixon. You should fit right in. They scout our high value targets and assess what we need to execute the mission or if it's even worth going in."
Frank smiles. Finally. Sure, it's not SG-1 but it is his playhouse. "Sir, thanks, I can't wait to meet the rest of the team and get to work."
Jack bobs his head in a nod. "No problem… and just so you know, from time to time, I may call on your services to help SG-1 in certain situations. But for now, I understand Teal'c is preparing for your sparring match."
Frank snaps a salute. "See you inside sir." And heads for the locker room.
Jack wishes he had a dozen more of the guy. He looks at Sam and Daniel. "What?" Daniel folds his arms and looks at the ground.
Sam gives him a look. "Really sir, you think it's fair to have the Chief spar with Teal'c? You know he's going to put him in the infirmary."
Jack nods. "I hope so. I've got fifty bucks on the big guy… and junior."
"Sir!" Sam admonishes him.
"Come on Carter. We may all be surprised. He is pretty tough." And Jack turns with an amused smile and walks into the gym.
Sam looks at Daniel who shakes his head.
Frank stores his BDUs in his wash sack in his locker and puts on some gym short and grabs his wife beater then heads to the washroom next to the showers. He fills a sink and washes the sweat and dirt off his face. Looking in the mirror he studies the man looking back at him. Medium brown hair starting to turn grey and looking older than his thirty two years. Crows feet have sunk in around his pale grey green eyes from squinting into a scope and decades of sun. Still physically fit and well proportioned for his 5 foot 10 inch frame. Not as rangy as O'Neill nor as beefy as Teal'c.
He dries his face off and looks at the assorted scars on his chest from all the abuse from training and missions alike. He puts on his shirt and heads for the gym.
He's heard about the exceptional strength of the Jaffa thanks to their symbiote. He's going to have to be smart if he wants to stand a chance. Entering the gym he notices it's busier than usual. Shaking his head he realizes this is more than training. It's an initiation.
Colonel O'Neill walks over with protective head gear and gloves. "Hopkins, duck and weave and for Pete's sake, don't let him lull you into a sense of complacency."
Frank nods and dons the proffered gear. Teal'c bows. "Are you prepared for battle, Chief Hopkins?"
Putting his gloved fists together a couple times, he nods, "As ready as I'll ever be."
Lynn shook her head. He'd held his own for a while. Even gotten a few licks in, splitting Teal'c's lip at one point but she had taken the large man's self defense classes herself and knew Frank was going to eat mat. Sure enough, he lost his focus and Teal'c laid him out like a pork roast.
He's confused. When did he arrive at the beach… looking around he tries to figure out where he is… Hawaii? Gotta be. From behind him he hears a familiar voice. "Come here often sailor?" Turning around he realizes it's that cute nerdy Captain Schultz in the most revealing two piece green bikini.
He mutters a reply. "Lynn?... you look… beautiful."
She smiles then suddenly she smacks his face. "Come on. Snap out of it."
He shakes his head and realizes he is on the floor of the gym. Dr. Fraser shines a flashlight in his eyes.
Lynn and Janet kneeled on either side of him and went through a vitals check together.
"Should he be smiling like that?"
Janet shrugged. Frank blinked awake at that point.
"He'll be fine. Let's get him to the infirmary and keep him on bed rest for the next 24 hours. Come on hero." Janet tells him as Lynn grabs his arm while an orderly grabs the other. Together they haul him up from the mat.
Jack looks at Teal'c. "You did good but I thought he may have had you there for a minute."
Teal'c wipes a drop of blood from his lower lip.
"He is truly an accomplished warrior O'Neill. I would be honored to join him in battle."
O'Neill nods. "He is a tough one… let's go get some pie." He says hopefully and O'Neill and Teal'c leave the gym.
Frank is lying in the bed, nursing a massive headache. "How yah feeling?" Looking over he sees it's Lynn and immediately blushes remembering his fantasy about her in an extremely revealing sparkling green bikini.
"I'll survive but I'm not going to lie, I feel like a notorious Seal that coined the phrase 'pain lets you know you're alive, and right now I feel very alive'."
She looks at him like he's out of his mind.
Laying back he mumbles 'the only easy day was yesterday' and as he falls asleep, he hears in his mind's voice 'and you know how much of a bitch yesterday was'.
Lynn wondered why she was still sitting here while he slept off his foolish decision to tempt Colonel O'Neill with a good time. Walter had been settling up the betting squares when she and Janet had carted Frank off.
She felt no pity for him over this but here she was staring at him thoughtfully. The bruises would heal but his ego might take a much needed hit. There was always a bigger fish.
He'd held his own longer than she expected and she'd lost a solid twenty on the deal.
"You owe me twenty bucks, you nutty squid. I'm taking it out of your ass." She told the sleeping man whose short brown hair was threaded with silver. It suited him. Lynn frowned at that train of thought. 'Remind yourself he's an E-9 Schultz. You're an O-3. 2.3.3 through 2.3.5 come to mind.' she thought pointedly of the regulations.
The trouble was, she really liked the guy. He was kind of nutty but they had a lot of similar interests. She could see them killing a 40 on her postage stamp sized deck easily. Lynn sighed again. It just figured she finally made an actual friend and the rules said she had to keep it 'professional' whatever that meant. She got up and was about to leave when Colonel O'Neill showed up.
"At ease." He told her absently as he waved her down when she started to salute. His smile was amused when she didn't seem to know what to do with her hand now. "How's the patient?" he asked her, his rare smile kind.
"Janet knocked him back out." Lynn admitted.
"Probably a good idea. Teal'c's punch packs a wallop."
"I know sir. He trained me in hand to hand too."
O'Neill's head bobbed agreeably. "You didn't warn him."
"Where's the fun in that sir?" she asked with a small amused smile.
"Ah, good point Schultz. Hey, Carter said it's fine if you want to babysit the patient, it's pretty much tradition here at this point but when he wakes up, she needs you to get going on the doohickey on your bench."
"Yes sir, I will."
"Good. I gave your lab partners a suggestion they avoid your work area. Let me know if there's any further issue so I can address it." He gave her a look. "Don't cover for them Schultz. Their screw up cost the Air Force time and money. They do it again, those two will be running a car wash to make up the difference."
Lynn couldn't tell if he was joking so she killed her amused smile. "Yes sir."
O'Neill rolled his eyes for some reason and left.
AN: Yes Lynn becomes more likeable as time goes by. Stay tuned for future stories. - MRKRZHRSE